(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector for effectively extending the length of a fluorescent bulb of a shorter distance than the distance between bulb-receiving members in a lighting fixture, the connector accommodating a given distance between pins of the lighting fixture to convert them to a pin system having a larger length between the two pins in the bulb-receiving member of the housing fixture.
(2) Brief Description of the Prior Art
A fluorescent light bulb is a gas discharge tube whose output of light is so increased by special means that it can be used for lighting purposes. The inner surface of the wall of the tube is coated with a light-emitting substance, usually a fluorescent or phosphorescent metallic salt, such as calcium tongstate, zinc sulphide, or zinc cylocate. The tube is filled with mercury vapor at extremely low pressure. The electrons ejected from the incondensate electrodes will collide with the mercury atoms and cause these to emit radiation which consists, for the most part, of ultraviolet rays which are invisible.
The visible portion of the mercury vapor rays is situated in the green and blue range of the spectrum and gives a pale light. The ultraviolet light strikes a fluorescent substance with which the wall of the tube is coated and causes this substance to emit radiation with the longer wavelength in the visible range of the spectrum, i.e., the coating transforms the invisible rays into visible light.
By suitable choice of the fluorescent substance, this light can be given any desired color. The lamp has to be operated with a starter which prevents a harmful rise in voltage and serves to ignite the lamp. For this purpose, a small auxiliary glow lamp provided with a thermal contact is connected in parallel with the main lamp. When the current is switched on, the glow lamp first lights up (the bi-metallic thermal contact is then open). This causes the bi-metallic strip to warm and close the contact, with the result that the glow lamp is short-circuited and the cathodes of the main lamp receive the full current that makes them incandescent. The bi-metallic strip cools and breaks the contact. By means of the starter, this interruption of the circuit produces a voltage surge which is high enough to initiate the discharge in the fluorescent lamp itself. Because it is by-passed by the main lamp, the small auxiliary lamp then ceases to function. The bi-metallic strip keeps the contact open. The cathodes of the main lamp are kept glowing at white heat by the impigment of positive mercury ions, and the lamp thus continues to function and emit light in the manner set forth above.
The light of a fluorescent lamp is not produced by an incandescent body (such as the filament of an ordinary electric lamp), but is emitted as a result of the excitation of atoms, namely, those of the mercury vapor and the fluorescent coating, and is extremely economical in operation. Because of the large-emitting area, a fluorescent bulb gives a pleasant light which produces only soft shadows.
In the United States, fluorescent light bulbs are provided, typically, in 18 inch, 2 to 6 foot and 8 foot lengths, with the popular lengths being two and four foot lengths. The diameter of the bulb is commercially referred to as a "T" portion, with the portion being defined in increments of 8ths of an inch. A typical United States commercial light bulb will have a diameter that is identified as "T8", i.e., one inch in diameter.
However, in recent years, a smaller diameter fluorescent lamp identified as "T5", or 5/8 of an inch in diameter, has been incorporated into fluorescent lighting fixtures made in Europe for specific accommodation of such T5 fluorescent lamps. Typical of such T5 lamps are those made available by Phillips.
The T5 lamps require less watts of power than do most of the T8 lamps made in the United States. Additionally, the T5 fluorescent lamps are somewhat shorter than conventional T8 fluorescent lamps. Additionally, because of the smaller diameter of the T5 lamps when compared to the diameter of the T8 lamps, the electrical connecting pins at each end of the T5 fluorescent lamp are spaced apart from one another a distance which is smaller than the distance between the comparative pins in the T8 lamps, thus making electrical connection between the T5 lamp and the lighting fixture for receipt of a T8 lamp impossible.
Because of the increased efficiency and lower usage of electrical energy resulting from the design of the T5 lamps, it would be desirable to permit such T5 lamps to be incorporated within lighting fixtures already manufactured and installed which receive T8 lamps. Additionally, lighting fixtures that already have bulb-receiving members for receipt of the T8 fluorescent bulbs will have to be provided with some sort of device for accommodating the highly efficient T5 bulbs in such fixtures without change to the standard T8 bulb-receiving members in the fixtures.
The present invention addresses the problems set forth above.